Dems Abroad Greece Goes Live Presentation

In life … You live. You learn. 

In Democrats Abroad … You live. You find yourself in a campaign year. You learn.

And Dems Abroad Greece has been on one of those learning curves this year. Threading our way through increased local interest in the US elections, with Brady Kiesling, our country chair, and other spokespeople has been a challenge for the Press Coordinator, Alkman Granitsas. 

That’s a tall order. Granitsas is charged both with arranging articles and interviews and with preparing our representatives to fill the ‘surrogate speaker’ slots. As a spokesperson, even the Chair, is speaking for the Party officially. 

Personal views can be shared in private conversations. However, once in the public domain, spokespeople are tasked with letting people know what the Party’s platform is without compromising delicate diplomacy that may be going on in official channels. A slip of phrase can also put some American’s life and livelihood in jeopardy. Some host countries are easier for Americans to live in than others. The art of the 'pivot' saves misspeaking. Also gold are spokespeople who can deliver in either English, Greek or both.

As the US election nears, local press interest has sparked up. Local organizations also have invited spokespeople for debates. Or some semblance of debates. That’s a new challenge. The rules may be a bit loose. The set-up may be unclear. Spokespeople must be bi-lingual and nimble!

In October. Chair Brady Kiesling’s made a Debate House appearance. while Events chair, Nikki Fellouris, delivered our official answer to pre-set questions at the Free Thinking Zone bookstore. Both venues were slightly different than expected and pressed our spokespeople to be on the ball and on point. Want to know what we said?

Read on below!

The Free Thinking Zone Discussion, Oct. 21, 2024
Three Central Issues

Free Thinking Zone: Voters repeatedly say the economy and the cost of living are the number 1 issue. Donald Trump's proposal calls for tariffs on foreign imports across the board, even up to 20% on good coming into this country. As you know many economists say that with tariffs at that level costs are then passed onto the consumer. Vice President Harris has argued it'll mean higher prices on gas, food, clothing medication arguing it costs the typical family nearly four thousand dollars a year. Do you believe Americans can afford higher prices because of tariffs? 

Dems Abroad Greece: The American economy is very strong now compared to Europe’s. The huge new tariffs Donald Trump promises will hit U.S. consumers hard and hit the world economy hard as well. Rich people won’t mind paying 20 percent more for imported goods, because Trump says he will cut their income taxes. Middle class Americans, however, will find themselves a lot poorer. Think tanks say Trump’s plan will add $-9 trillion to the deficit, three times more than Harris’s tax cuts for the working class. 

Targeted tariffs in a few high-tech sectors have some logic, but blanket tariffs won’t create new manufacturing jobs in America. Greece’s own 20th century experience of protected local industries is one of high prices and low quality. Greece had a trade surplus with the U.S. last year. Tariffs will hurt Greek olive oil and other producers hard. Obviously, the EU and the rest of the world will retaliate with tariffs of its own, costing American farmers and creators billions.

Free Thinking Zone: What is your position towards abortion bans? Do you believe that is going to lead to more women dying?

Dems Abroad Greece: If we are not free to decide for ourselves regarding the most basic issues of our own body, then we are not free. The Democratic Party and candidate Harris fully agree with the clear majority of Americans who support the right of women to end a dangerous or unwanted pregnancy. Donald Trump as president appointed Supreme Court justices who pledged to impose the tyranny of a sectarian minority. Half the 50 states, those controlled by the Republican party, have now banned or severely restricted abortions. Now in states like Texas, a doctor and patient fear they can be prosecuted even for a miscarriage. Hospitals in rural areas are refusing to accept maternity cases. Basically, women with pregnancy complications are not treated until they are at the verge of death. The death rate for pregnant mothers will continue to increase until these laws are overturned. In ten states, voters will go to the polls on November 5 to overturn those bans.

Free Thinking Zone: Donald Trump said, on January 20, 2025, that he will take a suite of aggressive actions on the border and on immigration and announced vast deportations.  Recently VP Kamala Harris has shifted to the right on immigration, embracing limits to asylum and advocating for added border security, as migrant encounters hit a record high at the end of 2023. What is your  plan on  immigration?

Dems Abroad Greece: The crowds of migrants at our borders is a traumatic issue for the United States as it is for Greece. The number of poor, frightened people desperate to enter the United States increases due to wars, gang violence, and climate change. The Biden Administration tries to live up to its obligation to protect genuine refugees, but we cannot help everyone looking for a better life. A key part of U.S. foreign policy is to attempt to address migration at the source, via international assistance and conflict resolution. That was one of Kamala Harris’s tasks as Vice President, working with countries in Central America to increase democracy and stop violence.

Donald Trump has persuaded a large percentage of the electorate that migrants are dangerous criminals. This is a lie, but one many people believe. Trump encourages racist attacks by white supremacists. To reassure the public, bipartisan legislation was negotiated by Congress that will increase controls at the border. Kamala Harris says she is ready to sign that legislation. However, Donald Trump ordered Republican members of Congress not to let the bill go forward, in order to keep immigration as an electoral issue.

Debate House, Oct 20, 2024
DAGR Chair Brady Kiesling

Check out the short video here. The audio could be better. Nonetheless, Brady comes on strong, refuting disinformation!

Debate House 1.     What is the main issue at stake in the forthcoming elections of November 5th? 

For American women, everything is at stake in this November’s election. For the planet, these elections will determine whether the world’s most influential country remains a liberal democracy and reliable ally. Four years ago, former President Donald Trump organized an insurrection to overturn the results of the 2020 elections and seize control of the U.S. government. His rejection of the legitimacy of democratic elections is a direct attack on the U.S. Constitution he swore to uphold. He is morally and intellectually unfit for public office and must not become President of the United States.

America’s security, prosperity and global influence rely on delicate internal balances. A powerful executive branch based on a non-partisan civil service is balanced by a powerful Congress. A powerful judiciary is a check on both. When all three branches are effective and respected, the U.S. system functions well. Trump had done his best to corrupt all three.

The past two years the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has been a dysfunctional joke because it obeyed Trump’s orders rather than the will of the electorate. Trump has made clear, and not only through the famous Project 2025, that he plans to gut the civil service, replacing any official who puts the rule of law ahead of loyalty to the White House. A series of judicial decisions by Trump appointees violate not only women’s reproductive freedoms, the most atrocious recent attack on our human rights, but also the American people’s sense of decency. Once ordinary citizens see judges as instruments of partisan politics, the judiciary is no longer capable of enforcing the Constitution. A recent, flawed Supreme Court ruling convinces Trump that he is not bound by U.S. law. For example, he says he will use his power as commander in chief to deploy the military for domestic functions, including mass deportations and suppression of protests.

Debate House 2.     What do you think will be the factor that will affect the outcome? 

Voter turnout is the key to this as any other U.S. election. Polls show Kamala Harris strongly ahead in the nationwide popular vote. In the Electoral College, however, the race is very close indeed. Overseas voters—there are thousands of us in Greece, millions worldwide— were the margin of victory in several key races in 2020 and will be again in 2024.

Educated voters and Americans with life experience outside the United States tend to vote Democratic. Naturally, women have flocked to Kamala Harris in response to Trump’s attack on their rights. Inflation has decreased, though it remains a major concern worldwide, but America’s economy—jobs, income, the stock market— is doing very well, outpacing Europe’s.

U.S. voters in Greece are requesting their ballots in record numbers, a very good sign. Democrats Abroad is also seeing a steady flow of motivated volunteers. Our phones are ringing constantly with people asking for help in voting in this year’s election.

This voluntarism is crucial to our success in mobilizing voters both here and in America. Our former counterpart, Republicans Abroad, ceased operating a few years ago, as the Republican Party decided overseas Americans weren’t worth caring about. Instead, the Republican Party is filing lawsuits in key states like Pennsylvania trying to make it harder for overseas votes to be counted. This is proof Trump is much more nervous than he pretends.

Debate House 3. Why should one choose Kamala Harris for next president? 

Integrity is the short answer. Also, common sense, humor, graciousness, a successful background in public service, and respect for the rule of law. Unlike her 78-year-old, increasingly incoherent opponent, she has no record of business bankruptcies, sex scandals or felony convictions. As her debate victory over Trump confirmed, she has the intellect, knowledge, and character appropriate for the first woman president of the United States.

She is building on a successful track record: the Biden Administration fixed the mess of Trump’s expensive, incompetent COVID response and engineered one of the most successful economic expansions in the U.S. economy in decades. Biden and Harris have put America back at the forefront of environmental progress, and restored America’s leadership in the world. 

Greeks know that their security depends on America and the E.U. cooperating as friends and partners. Trump believes dictators give him a better deal, and indeed they do, but only for him personally not for America or the NATO alliance. Greece’s strategic calculations are based on international institutions and international law. Harris supports those institutions. Trump undermines them.

Debate House 4.     How do you think the election of Kamala Harris will affect the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East?

Only the collective leverage of the U.S. and Europe can limit Russia’s neo-imperial aspirations. Trump’s naïve admiration for Putin is obvious. Harris will not abandon Ukraine. Instead, she will work with NATO/EU partners for a just solution compatible with international law.

In the Middle East, Kamala Harris has emphasized the importance of protecting innocent human life. Every U.S. Administration but Trump’s has supported a two-state solution as the only pathway to lasting peace. Rewarding his campaign donors, Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv – a symbolic gesture most of the world knows is an obstacle to peace. Trump also withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, a potentially catastrophic miscalculation. Now he is rewriting the history of his total failure in Afghanistan. He campaigned in 2016 on withdrawing U.S. troops. During four years as president, he reversed himself multiple times, escalating, negotiating, blustering. At the end of 2020 he suddenly ordered the Pentagon to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan. He reversed that order one week later, then ultimately did nothing, leaving a disaster for his successor. This is not firm, decisive leadership the world can trust. 

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